Friday, 28 February 2014

Classic and in some terms simplistic at a first glance, Elder bring an essence of extreme fluidity to their music which you can easily see throughout their self titled first album. It's probably going to seem ironic that I say "simplistic" by the time you get past the first couple tracks of the album, but it definitely has a sense of accessibility to itself, while still maintaining it's atmosphere consisting of various layers of catchy guitar riffs, and subtle bass/drum playing make it easier to throw on than most other stoner/doom albums I can think of. Overall it isn't overwhelming, but not underwhelming either- the vocals especially match the instruments perfectly making the entire production feel juuuust right. Basing it's lyrics mainly around fantasy on tracks as well as Conan the Barbarian (seen on the tracks "Riddle of Steel" Pt. 1&2), Elder's tracks seem in some sense like the bastard children of the classic song "The Wizard" by Black Sabbath. All in all, if fluid, easy listening is what you're after in a doom/stoner band then Elder is definitely for you.

Atlanta's Zoroaster blare through their second full length studio album with great skill in reworking the classic methodology of a doom/sludge album. Blurring the lines between heavy bone-crushing sludge and symphonic stoner melodies, the band makes great used of slow and thick tempos, atmospheric riffs reminiscent of Black Sabbath and Electric Wizard, and even some unorthodox but well placed piano and acoustic segments. A more straightforward summary of Voice of Saturn is basically what I imagine the musical equivalent of taking a few tabs of lsd and then staring at the sun would be like.

Thursday, 27 February 2014

It's a universally agreed upon fact that sludge is at its best when it sounds like the contents of a heroin junkie's stool sample making out with a suicide victim, and lo and behold, Moloch are here to make you miserable withe their heroin junkie stool/suicide victim sludge baby. The four piece band from Leicester, England are among some of the newer bands who are taking the template laid out by Eyehategod (the Southern style riffs via copious amounts of opiate abuse and a healthy dose of nihilism) and then dragging it through the mud and cement, coating in a heavy layer of doom, distortion and dread, adding about fifty metric fucktonnes of heavy to the formula. It's stripped back, primal sludge at its most bleak and depressing extreme, and it's here waiting for you to listen to it. Turn this one up loud and make your neighbours cry.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Thy Grief
2. Who Is This Who Is Coming
3. Black Water
4. Repulsion

Phwoar. Endless Swarm are four piece band from Edinburgh, Scotland who play some really neat, super gritty powerviolence. There's plenty of crusty grind influence in Endless Swarm's music (I got a really strong Afternoon Gentlemen vibe), as well as nods to some old school powerviolence and hardcore. Across the nine tracks on 'Mindkiller' you'll be assaulted by a multitude of different vocals - a pretty impressive range actually, crust shrieks, the 'angry man' (TM) and growls, usually trading off with each other in quick succession. Additionally there's some meaty, sludge-y riffs to sink your teeth into and plenty of tempo changes and blast beats to tap your feet/shake your fingers to. All in all, a solid release from a city not yet known for its' powerviolence scene. Snag 'Mindkiller' at Endless Swarm's bandcamp page as a pay-what-you-want download.

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Hey, my name's Rush, and this is gonna be my first post on this blog. Just for some basic information about me, I make noise under the moniker Fit For A Funeral. Some of my favorite bands, as of late, are Full Of Hell (Favorite, always), Cold Cave, Raspberry Bulbs, Sexdrome, Death Grips, Sea Of Shit, and Water Torture (just to name a few). Enough about me, here we go.

The Morning After The Night We Raped DeathStreet Sects2014Review by Rush Falknor

Genre/s: Noisecore, Harsh dance music (?)

Street Sects are a band storming out of Austin, Texas. Their debut EP, The Morning After The Night We Raped Death, is part 1 in a 5 part series called Gentrification: A Serial Album. On this EP, they have released two tracks (bonus track is also available on the bandcamp) of abrasive, yet almost dancy, sample-based noisecore. Pounding drum-machine rhythms assault you as harsh shrieked vocals in the background emerge from the depths like someone screaming for help from a dark, grimy alleyway. All 3 tracks are harsh, filthy, yet with a very rhythmic touch, every bass drum hit smashing into you, as the noise swirls you around this tornado of electronic violence. The lyrics are also a very interesting read. Don't sleep on this band. Link to their bandcamp below. Free download.I believe I speak for all of us when I say:I am not a monster. I am not a virus. I am not a gangster. I am not trash that you can just throw away. I am my mother’s bird and I have taught myself how to fly. Tracklisting:1. Bliss2. Fate On Her Knees3. We Live (Digital only Bonus track)

Agents Of Abhorrence put out one hell of a record last year. Relief was an absolutely brutal grindcore album and ticked most of the boxes - yet it was lacking the intensity and creativity of earlier AoA outings. Enter Earth.Water.Sun, an EP the Melbourne grinders put out in 2010. This ten minute long ripper has Discordance Axis worship written all over it, with its math-y, claustrophobic song structures though it manages to really come out on its own as a forward thinking, slightly off kilter grind record. AoA are a treble heavy band (with no bass player), and utilise angular riffs played at break neck speed, concise drumming and throaty shrieked/growls vocals to beat you into submission. Again, these guys are still going strong, but they no longer have the same impact as they did on this EP (that, and I believe they have a new vocalist). All that aside, give this a listen.

Straight out of one the most exciting black metal movements/collectives (Black Twilight Circle) is Absum,one of the Circle's more bleak and slow paced projects. The one man band plays a combination of black metal and funeral doom, with droning guitars, guttural (and incredibly ominous) vocals with a strong focus on atmosphere and tonality. While Absum may be as raw as fellow Black Circle Twilight bands, the lo-fi quality of the recording melds in with the miasma of bass, guitar and vocals to create a thick, wall of sound that is both mournful and terrifying. This is compilation of all of Absum's recorded material between 2007 and 2009, and not featured on either the 'Odors Of Dust And Rot' comp (which is excellent by the way, go listen to it) or various Rhinocervs contributions. This is absolutely pummeling, gut wrenching doom played slower than snail-pace - get on it.

For Fans Of: Grazhdanskaya Oborona, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus

Originating from Spain in the 1980s, there really isn't much information I could find about KGB. They only seemed to record a handful of songs but seem to have been fairly popular in Spain, even performing on tv in a few youtube videos I found. Despite this, the band managed to produce some catchy, albeit extremely lo-fi post punk exhibited here on Treblinka- the only full album that I could find by the band. Opening strong with "Luftwaffe" the songs vary from fast and more punk leaning, to very 80s influenced electronic tracks, while still maintaining their post-punk element. KGB is great for fans of classic post-punk.

I honestly don't need to say anything about this album other than the fact that it's an absolute fucking classic and half the bands on this blog wouldn't be around if it wasn't for these guys. For those of you who only know of Flipper from Kurt Cobain's shirt, they were (and still are, sporadically) a punk band from San Francisco. While Flipper's peers were channeling their anger and frustration into short, snappy three chord zingers, they were pouring all their boredom, depression and disillusionment into sloppy, noisy dirges. Never ones to really care about actually playing their instruments properly, Flipper's songs are raw, honest and deliberately annoying insights into misanthropy, sexual frustration and life as an outsider. Their wonky, feedback ridden sludge-punk was vital in starting numerous musical movements across America in the 1980s (most notably the Grunge scene in Seattle) and has remained some of the most ugly and unique stuff to ever come out of the Bay Area (or any area for that matter).

TRACKLISTING:
1. Ever
2. Life Is Cheap
3. Shed No Tears
4. (I Saw You) Shine
5. Way Of The World
6. Life
7. Nothing
8. Living For The Depression
9. Sex Bomb

Monday, 24 February 2014

Appropriately titled "Insane Power", Toronto band Absolut released this demo tape that's making me extremely excited to see what else they'll release next. Wasting no time by thrashing straight into the first track "burnt hell", Absolut makes great use of melodic guitar solos contrasted by howled vocals that sound like a faster, more unrelenting version of the backing vocals on the Urinals track "I Hate". Ending with an eery soundbite of an elderly couple having a discussion about death and destruction on a massive scale as the result of nuclear bombing, the demo appropriately imitates the chaos and devastation that follows large-scale war through it's almost black metal-esque brand of "corpse sound" strings accompanied by vocals that imitate the strangled shrieks of some post-war irradiated mutant. Insane Power is a short, but great demo and a very promising start for Absolut.

Sunday, 23 February 2014

Coming from Toronto, Canada, Rammer were definitely one of the best metal bands to ever emerge from the Canadian metal scene, period (in my opinion anyway). Although very rough the band was insanely talented, knowing exactly where all the right elements that make a good grindcore song need to be, how long to make them, and then adding a death metal element to the mix as well. The band sadly broke up with two of it's members joining Joel Grind's Toxic Holocaust (Al Biddle and Phil Zeller) however the handful of EPs, split albums, and their only released full length album "Cancer", Rammer solidified themselves as masters of Deathgrind- laying down track after fantastic track of extremely visceral guitar riffs/solos and vocals that can only be matched by Toxic Holocaust themselves.

Drunkdriver were a New York band who played some of the noisiest, most abrasive hardcore you're ever likely to hear. Alas, their time on the planet was short, but they left behind some absolutely killer music, coated in at least fifteen layers of distortion. Drunkdriver were a band that could alternate between breakneck speed and oppressive sludge drawls, harnessing unhealthy amounts of guitar feedback and noise in the process. With vocals that posses a Mike-Williams-IX-rant crossed with deranged mental patient quality, dosed with ungodly levels of reverb (what's a noise punk band without reverb), Drunkdriver is just an all out assault on the senses, with little to no regard for conventional song structures or musical convention. Unfortunately these guys (and gal) left us waaaay too soon, due to some sexual assault allegations leveled at the drummer, but their discography is up for grabs below (inlcuding their collaboration with noise/experimental artist 'Mattin'), so jam it loud and scare some kids and/or old people.

(Edit: I fucked up and left some tracks out of the initial ZIP folder, hence I have added a second file with the missing tracks)

If you've ever wondered what your favourite 70s/80s sci-fi/horror VHS would sound like if they were a band, I have the answer for you. Mutant Video is a synth driven project from Seattle, Washington who currently reside on the consistently brilliant Iron Lung Records roster. Utilising synth, bass guitar and minimal percussion (via drum machine), Mutant Video's moody compositions are sinister, cold and clinical drawing on eerie ambience and retro vibes to complete their formula. 'Missing Fingers' sees Mutant Video covering cold wave (The Drive), dark ambient (Silent Curtain) and drone (Raw Deal, Street Lightning) territories, with the bass guitar providing some harsher, metallic tones and the synth generating some of the more ambient atmospheres. At times is sounds like John Carpenter covering Godflesh, at other times it sounds like Swans met Alberich in a sleazy bar and got them pregnant but ultimately it's a dark, brooding release and a solid listen at that.

So I bet you're wondering whether this is a grindcore album?
I guess you're right.
Denak were a grindcore band from Spain, who were around between 1994 and 2004, and in the ten years they were around, they put out quite a few splits with quite a few other well known grind bands (notably Dahmer and Haemorrhage). 'Grindcore' is their only full length album (that wasn't a split LP, that is) and it showcases their ferocious brand of mince-y, gore tinged brand of, well, grindcore. Also there's a Hellnation and Fear Of God cover on here, so that's cool too. This is some pretty essentially listening, especially for all you mince addicts out there, so snag it below.

Yup, another sludgy 90s noise rock band, courtesy of the greatest label of all time. Cherubs were three scuzzy misfits from Austin, Texas who were responsible for some pretty neat music in the early 90s. The trio's music is best described as bass heavy, and very muddy with David Yow-esque, muffled vocals thrown into the mix (though there's also some higher, nasally tones as well, check 'Dave Of The Moon'). Primarily riff driven, there's plenty of chug courtesy of the fuzzed out guitar as well as some more dirgier, slower moments. Cherubs are just the right amount of nihilistic, catchy and weird, and remain surprisingly coherent given how abrasive their music is. You should definitely give this a listen, and then go erect a shrine to 'Amphetamine Reptile' records and pray to it daily.

Bringing together the minds of Joesephy Roemer and Roger Stella (aka Macronympha) and Andy Bolus (Evil Moisture) is this piece of fried harsh noise gold. Macronympha's strain of metallic, industrial-esque noise meets Evil Moisture's crazed circuit bent experiments on this LP, creating an interesting dynamic that definitely recalls the earlier days of the Japanoise scene. While it's not as out there as some of their Japanese comrades, it's a lot more zany than the average Macronypha release, with more cut ups, shorter songs and less of a focus on texture. If you like your noise super sharp and metallic, with a few odd boops, whistles and clanks in the midst of it all, I think you'll do alright by this.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Junk Dissection
2. Deported Women Of The Suction Socket Special Section
3. Fucking Melted Like Mozzarella Cheese!
4. Anal Arsehole
5. Yokohama Pussy Half
6. Left Brain Lubricant
7. Evil Flower
8. Pittsburgh Capillary Action
9 Bad Drugs From Hell
10. Transsexual BBQ Holocaust
11. Acoustic Output From Driver Unit Used As Output For Inner Ear
12. Seismic Enlarger
13 Involuntary Regurgitation
14. The Chains Rattled In Time To The Ever Sharper Tempo Of Tanya's Lashings While The Once Arrogant Cynthia Offered Up Every Inducement Her Mind Could Devise To Win Her Reprieve
15. Peak Exploration
16. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 1
17. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 2
18. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 3
19. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 4
20. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 5

If you haven't heard of Lightning Bolt, I can safely declare the following: a)you've been living under a rock and/or b)you're some kind of hideous sewer mutant with no soul. Lightning Bolt are the genre defying duo who've been churning out the most danceable, aggressive noise rock you're liable to come across for nigh on two decades. Seemingly sugar coated in childish artwork and lyrics, the band's music is just as whacky and colourful, albeit with a hefty sonic punch. Hypermagic Mountain is my personal favourite release by Lightning Bolt, as it's basically everything I could want from an album. It's fun, catchy, weird as hell and packs a bit of a bite. The fuzzed out, effects coated bass dives in and out of Brian Chippendale's masterful drumming (that man is possessed or part octopus, I tell you what) and heavily delayed and distorted vocals. My standout track would have to be Megaghost (though 2 Morro Morro Land is a close second) - it's an absolutely monstrous track that really does showcase the heavier, more manic side of the band. The chugging bass and blistering snare abuse are Lightning Bolt taking their rhythmic noise to it's most logical extreme. I'd like to think most of you on this blog have listened to this band at least once, but FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY, if you have not heard this band, get into this right now, you will not regret it.

No. That's a heckuva word, it just screams brevity, conciseness - it's blunt and to the point, much like the band calling themselves that very name. No hail from London, and are the aural equivalent of a swarm of wasps trapped in a bottle and shaken up. Everything about the band is spat at you in lightning quick succession, the vocals are pretty much being forced out against the own will, and the drums are locked in combat with the ever changing guitar riffs. There's so much cool stuff coming out of the USA at the moment, especially in the punk/hardcore side of things, so it's great to see some equally as weird and venomous coming out of the UK. Here's hoping we here more from these Poms in the near future.

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

The Mummies were champions of the modern garage rock revival, and also one of the most literally named rock groups in musical history (as in they dressed as mummies when they played live). Influenced almost exclusively by the sounds of the 1950s, especially rock and roll and surf music, The Mummies played what can only be described as B-Grade Garage Punk. Adding their own sloppy, devil may care touch to garage rock, The Mummies played loud (and sometimes fast), with deranged vocals, tinny guitars and some pretty groovy organ lines to boot. This here is a collection of the band's earlier singles, compiled for your listening pleasure - and it shows The Mummies at their finest - a bunch of young punks playing rock and roll horrendously.

TRACKLISTING:
1. That Girl
2. Test Drive
3. I'm Bigger Than You
4. Dirty Robber
5. Food, Sickles And Girls
6. One By One
7. Out Of Our Tree
8. Tall Cool One
9. A Girl Like You
10. That's Mighty Childish
11. (Doin') The Kirk
12. Die!
13. Mashi
14. The Fly
15. The House On The Hill

One of Japan's most prolific exports is Keiji Haino - a man who's work spans almost four decades and multiple genres (noise, rock and roll, ambient, drone). Apart from his solo work, Haino's main musical mouthpiece is Fushitsusha, a free imrov group that leans to the noisy, psychadelic branch of things (fun fact, their current drummer, Ryosuke Kiyasu, is also the drummer in noise grinders Sete Star Sept). Despite Fushitsusha existing since 1978, this album, recorded in 1992 by John Zorn is the band's first studio album. At times unsettling, relaxing and ambient at others, Allegorical Misunderstanding is built off Haino's jarring, discordant guitar lines which is answered in turn by the drums and bass. It's easy listening gone awry (very awry), with seemingly serene moments interrupted by Haino's yelps and screams, and sudden bursts of guitar abuse and drum misuse. Allegorical Misunderstanding is probably the loudest quiet album you'll ever hear, and hence it works as both a ambient album or a confronting avant garde experience. Enjoy at your own risk.

For most, post punk conjures a rather gloomy, downtrodden atmosphere. Perhaps you think of Joy Division, or Bauhaus, or even The Cure? Well take off your eyeliner and your trench coat, because where you're going - that's frowned upon. Whirling Pig Dervish were a bunch of young rapscallions from Scotland who were making some rather odball post punk music well after the initial boom in the 1970s. Throughout the early 90s, Whirling Pig Dervish managed to release a full length and a 7", full to the brim with their angular, noisy take on the genre. Sometimes delving into more punk/hardcore territories (especially on their full length), WPD maintained a consistently weird approach, throwing odd time signatures around like no one's business and dropping in some trumpet for good measure. This is some criminally underrated stuff, and should appeal to anyone who likes some deliciously fucked up punk.

It's America vs Japan vs Japan in what is probably the coolest tour release, and indeed split release ever devised. As usual, Hellnation bring their absolutely ferocious brand of powerviolence tinged fastcore, with razor sharp guitars and throat shredding vocals - they easily blast through their four songs on this split. Slight Slappers are a slightly more manic and chaotic affair, injecting powerviolence with sloppy thrash solos and sloppier riffs with 9 live tracks. Finally Real Reggae brings the beef with their crazy fast brand of thrashcore (again these tracks are live). One of the better live albums I've listened to, this split brings together three excellent bands playing some blisteringly fast music. Git on it.

Saturday, 15 February 2014

Conan can be best described as a dense and suffocating wave of extremely fuzzy doom. Definitely living up to it's barbarian name, Conan gives you an sense of being bludgeoned to death just as good ol' Arnie himself would do in the original 1982 film- mainly by completely overwhelming you with it's harsh, but epic tone. While almost reaching into the realm of drone with its extremely distorted guitars that pound on and on and on without terribly complex riffs, the drums work in a similar way to the album God is Good that I previously posted, but in a much more forceful sense- feeling slightly tribal or even downright barbaric (sorry, I couldn't resist). The insane thickness of the album's atmosphere is extremely well done and definitely makes it an interesting, and sometimes grueling experience to make it through it's entirety of forty minutes. You'll definitely need to set aside some time in your day to listen to this one all the way through as it seems intended to be listened to, but if you're a doom or drone fan you certainly won't regret it.

Not
to be confused with the Swedish hardcore band of the same name (they're
pretty good too if you like to listen to a band that made a particular pioneering style of hardcore ahead of its time that has since been homogenized to death by modern bands), This Final Exit hail from Japan and are perhaps the underdogs of the Japanese noisegrind scene but that doesn't make them any less special, infact quite the contrary. Have you ever at one point while listening to blistering grindcore thought to yourself "Hmm, it would be nice if i
could listen to some slow acoustic music or maybe some happy clappy
rock, maybe some Dick Dale inspired surf music or hey maybe some Iron
Maiden or Complex to boot" then these grind maestros probably
overheard you and did exactly that.

"Seasons..." is delivered in around
10 minutes at break neck speeds constantly switching between noise and
music faster than the Australian weather (heyoooooo relevant lame
humor), this is for anyone that loves their reprehensible noisy grind with a polygamous marriage to a clusterfuck of other guitar centric genres.

Friday, 14 February 2014

Final Solution - with a name like that, they'd have to be a power electonics group, right?
Right.
Final Solution were kicking out the anti-jams in the late 80s/early 90s, and were very heavily influenced by their peers, Whitehouse. With similar, high pitched, borderline whiny vocals and the trademark 'offend everyone' ethos, Final Solution were one of the original US power electronics acts, and were most definitely pushing the boundaries of electronic music in their country at the time. An obvious influence on the New York noise scene, this demo (originally released in 1990) has seen a nifty re-release via everyone's favourite noise-mongers, Hospital Records. Suss it out below and maybe go buy it off the Chrome Peelers' bandcamp.

BEFORE THEY WERE PISSED JEANS and BEFORE THEY WERE THE GATECRASHERS, they were THE ULTIMATE WARRIORS (well most of them anyways). Probably the only wrestling themed grind/pv band, The Ultimate Warriors put out some hilariously goofy, but utterly brutal stuff in their 6 years as a band. Despite the considerable distance between California and Pennsylvania, The Ultimate Warriors would've fit right in with the 'dankcore' scene, with their slamming riffs, guttural lows and ridiculous high pitched shrieks, screams and yelps. This is utterly essential listening if you're a fan of grindcore or powerviolence, so do yourself a favour and give this a listen.

Whitehouse, for the uninitiated, are pioneers and indeed the creators of the power electronics genre, and probably the most offensive (both to your ears and your morality) to ever have existed. Taking the industrial genre, arguably that period's most extreme style and making it more, um, extreme, Whitehouse burst into the scene with 'Birthdeath Experience', their debut LP. Eschewing industrial's penchant for rhythm and structure, 'Birthdeath Experience' is comprised of dangerously noisy synthesizers and over-driven effect laden vocals warbling and screaming filthy lyrics over the din. Admittedly it's not the most offensive Whitehouse release (their serial killer/rape/misogyny themes would come to fruition in later releases), but this is an intense, creepy listen nonetheless.

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

England's Bolt Thrower are an interesting death metal band, for starters their name comes from a weapon used in the fantasy roleplaying game Warhammer. Beyond that, the company that created the game, Games Workshop, approached the band and asked them to make an album for them about Warhammer 40K- another, more science fiction oriented, series in the Warhammer franchise. When I first heard this I thought it was so bizarre that I HAD to check it out, and I am so glad I did. Opening with an eery, mechanical force declaring "On countless worlds, the Earth shakes- as the forces of chaos try to gain control... there is no time for peace... only the eternal...WAR" you're hit with an explosion of noise with guitars ripping at you like bullets and drums like the constant booming of artillery shelling in the distance- at least this is definitely the effect that Realm of Chaos tries (and succeeds) to give you with it's ultimate themes being war and chaos. From track one you're assaulted non-stop until it feels like there is absolutely nothing left to go on with, and the outro carries the album away with a deathlike silence contrasted by machinery quietly clanging away in the background. An absolute classic of death metal, Bolt Thrower's "Realm of Chaos" is sure to please.

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

If you become interested in raw black metal, you're almost definitely going to come across the Navato, California duo Bone Awl- consisting of "He Who Gnashes Teeth" and "He Who Crushes Teeth". In some sense Bone Awl is pretty much what would happen if black metal and grindcore had a child seeing as the black metal lo-fi aesthetic is there to an extreme extent; sounding like it's been recorded on someone's phone, recorded again from that recording on someone's computer mic, and then recorded off of that recording, while being played through a walkie talkie, onto someone else's phone- all while giving a feeling of unstoppable, chaotic power in any one of it's short and insanely fast songs. Sure to make you a little deaf for the rest of the day if you listen to it at an even somewhat high volume (or even next few days at an unreasonably high volume like I did once), Meaningless Leaning Mess is a masterpiece of raw black metal.

"Hayya Allah Salah" bellows Cisneros as God Is Good's opening track "Thebes" kicks into full gear and you begin a musical experience quite unlike any other. Formed as the musical project of Sleep's Al Cisneros (and initially Chris Haikus before his departure) Om carries on in the tradition of Dopesmoker by leading you on an epic journey through the sands of ancient Middle-Eastern holy lands, while lyrically drawing on themes from Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism- and all while also managing to shell out some heavy as fuck doom. Although extremely slow and thematic (again carrying on in the tradition of Sleep) God Is Good manages to keep your attention throughout it's run time of about thirty five minutes, mainly due to excellent use of drums on the part of Emil Amos. Al's signature bass riffs are there, but it's the drumming carries you through much of the experience and gives the album a sense of fluidity and motion while also being backed up by traditional Middle-Eastern and Indian instruments- that actually work extremely well with the doom/stoner genre the album still inhabits. All of this said, God Is Good never really feels like too much at once or that it's trying too many things at once, it remains organic and unforced throughout it's entirety. If you're interested in a somewhat of a new spin on an old genre like doom/stoner, then I can definitely say that God Is Good is for you.

Monday, 10 February 2014

CxIxB are a blisteringly fast hardcore unit out of Italy playing a hybrid of old school and new styles
Taking the frantic powerchord barrages of thrashcore, and the more technical song structures of modern fastcore, is a veritable fest of stop starts, precise drumming and the always appreciated 'angry man' vocals. Italy's always had a pretty awesome hardcore scene, and these dudes are definitely keeping it alive with some totally kick-ass (and pretty darn innovative) music. Suss out their bandcamp below.

TRACKLISTING:
1.THRASH & DESTROY
2. the return of the mighty DOCTOR SAHARA
3. WHEN THERE'S NO MORE ROOM IN HELL THE DEAD WILL WALK THE EARTH
4. HOME SWEET HOME
5. LITTLE SOLDIER
6. GO SURF,FUCK WORK!
7. DON'T BOTHER
8. EIGHT DROPS PER DAY
9. FRIENDS
10.THE SQUID'S DEATH SQUAD
11. SOFT PILLOW
12. I HOPE YOU DIE IN A POOL OF SHIT SUFFOCATED BY YOUR OWN GUTS
13. AGAIN
14. ALL DEAD!

Make A Change...Kill Yourself are a two piece black metal band from Copenhagen, Denmark who are all about doom, gloom and depression. A decidedly more epic and atmospheric take on depressive suicidal black metal, Make A Change... still pack the emotional punch of their fellow DSBM peers, with repetitive, mournful riffs that slowly progress throughout the course of the song. One of the main hang ups people have the genre is the reliance on melodramatic, shrieked vocals that can often backfire (looking at you Shining) - thankfully Make A Change... have taken a more traditional, raspy approach, which still convey the intended emotions without sounding like a seagull in distress. Fri is an excellent addition to the DSBM genre, and would more than likely appeal to fans of traditional and atmospheric black metal as well.

Let's get this straight, if you consider yourself a fan of heavy/weird music, and you haven't heard this album at least once - YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
Naked City were a jazz group like no other, taking the idea of free jazz to dizzying heights and throwing every possible genre into their deranged compositions. With music's version of a mad scientist (John Zorn) at the helm conducting/composing, as well as playing saxophone and certified loony Yamatsuka Eye shrieking, screaming and growling his way through lyric-less vocals (a style I have since dubbed Grind-Scat), Naked City were the most mind boggling unpredictable band ever. Despite most of the tracks on Torture Garden (which I should point out id a compilation of their 'hardcore miniatures' from their self titled album and Grand Guignol) being under the one minute mark, you can expect more genre and tempo changes per song than you'd find on any other album. Torture Garden is essentially an ode to all things macabre, sleazy, disturbing and wrong, presented by musicians doing some highly questionable things with their instruments.

Mind Eraser are one of those bands that go to show that not only is powerviolence far from being a dead genre or a passing phrase, it is legitimately more thriving than ever before. Up until this particular release they churned out two albums Cave and Glacial Reign that entwine equal amounts of hardcore, powerviolence and sludge together seamlessly. This released was a sudden shock with what is usually the number of tracks is now the length of the songs themselves and vice versa so instead of 10 two-minute songs Conscious Unconscious has 2 ten-minute songs.

Conscious Unconscious is, in my humble opinion, their magnum opus. You can tell that this was the record they've always wanted to create and they pulled it off. From the ominous and haunting cacophony of phased out guitars that give way to an utterly devastating crash of aggression and speed that is a fine example of powerviolence at its very best before it fades away as quick as it comes and a lone bass starts to play slowly and then its a long and bombastic display of hardcore influenced sludge. The riffs are mean, the leads are sorrowful and the vocals are raw and nihilistic. The beauty of this though is that they do change it up but they do so with their ace of being able to string many styles of heavy music together, and in this release they even have spouts of early Swedish style death metal with not only the guitar solos but the production with emphasis on making it sound as dirty and cursed as possible. Even the snare sounds as deep as the kick drum compared to their prior releases. The production and mix is one of the factors that really made this album and if it was different it would not have had the same impact. Heck even the album art is reminiscent of early death metal albums.

That is all just in one half of the first track Conscious, it goes through the motions of going fast again, then slow and so on. The second track Unconscious is of course the same recipe but a different beast that never feels like a repeat of the first track. The last half ends at its most punishing before finally collapsing to the very same haunting mess of guitars that started it.

Its great when bands decide to experiment, its even better when they experiment without losing much or any of their core sound, its super better when its works but its fucking outstanding when its as immaculate as Conscious Unconscious.

Sunday, 9 February 2014

Noisy Sins Of The Insect were only briefly on operation,
through 2005 till about 2007. Not only that, the band operated out of Istanbul,
Turkey – hardly the place most folks would associate with Screamo/Emo. Flying
completely in the face of all this and on the back of a single album and a
split with Daighila, Noisy Sins Of The Insect’s efforts have been recognised over
time, having become one of the more notable examples of the genre – thus proving
my theory that if you want to be in a successful skramz band, you have to break
up shortly after forming.

Noisy Sins Of The Insect excel at the ebb and flow of
building to a crescendo – building slow clean, melodic noodling very
reminiscent of early screamo/emo. The throat-searing vocals are distant and
hushed, as if screaming across an uncaring void and the drums fill in softly. Abruptly,
everything shifts to these concrete, abrasive, heavier guitar sections – which
rarely every goes to a ripping face pace or gets spastically incoherent but
maintains the same chaotic, dissonant energy with the drums now pounding away
and the vocals cutting through at full force; all building in size and
intensity as the band slogs through the tracks. Noisy Sins Of The Insect use
these fundamental element of screamo as a weapon – to foster the feeling of
desperate tension-and-release and culminating in an exhaustive catharsis – and
wield it like masters.

TRACKLIST

1. Experiment 00
2. Experiment 01
3. Experiment 02
4. Cursed Day
5. Lora
6. An Exit, But It Was Useless
7. The Place in the Hope
8. Life on the Pills
9. Open Arm's Revenge
10. There Won't Be A 'My Life'
11. Dear God, I Don't Feel Alive
12. Dennis, I've Got New Shoes
13. Experiment 03
14. Experiment 04
15. Dream Connection Between Seat no. 21 and Seat no. 44
16. End of a Love Doesn't Mean End of Me
17. Simple Death Wish of the Mentally Helpless During Suffocation
18. My Funeral in you, and Our Memories
19. UntitledDownload